


To the Successor

by Tsorin



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends, xxxHoLic
Genre: Gen, In which Watanuki is Natsume's Yuuko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-10-01 15:40:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10193204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsorin/pseuds/Tsorin
Summary: Natsume's class visits Tokyo for their class trip. Natsume doesn't expect it to be anything special since he has lived in the area multiple times.That changes when he finds himself wandering into a strange shop in the middle of downtown Tokyo and meeting an even stranger boy.This, as always, is hitsuzen.





	

Natsume, had he thought about it, would have expected their class trip to go somewhere more exotic, like Okinawa. He had forgotten to revise his expectations based on the new place where he lived. To kids who grew up in the countryside their entire life, perhaps Tokyo was exotic.

He’d lived in Tokyo with a few foster families before, but since they were doing the tourist thing – hitting things like Tokyo Tower and the Imperial Palace - Natsume wasn’t too worried about running into them.

With that worry officially reasoned away, Natsume found himself trailing at the back of their group, trying to smother laughs at the way Kitamoto, Nishimura, and Tunama kept craning their necks back, trying to see the tops of Tokyo’s skyscrapers.

They stopped on a corner because Nishimura insisted the map said to go one way but Taki, having visited Tokyo before, said that he was wrong and getting them lost. Natsume, having lost track of where they were actually headed and therefore having no opinion himself, found himself wandering further down the street. He caught sight of Tanuma and Kitamoto doing the same as passersby began to turn to look.

Because it was Tokyo and Natsume wasn’t worried about getting lost, he didn’t pay attention to where his feet were taking him until he turned into a building and a sharp shock shot up his spine. Nyanko-sensei hissed but didn’t leave his shoulder.

Natsume knew a barrier when he felt one.

The building in front of him did not belong in downtown Tokyo. Unlike the buildings on either side, it was short and traditional with (for Tokyo) a sprawling garden out front. Had it been anywhere else, Natsume would have assumed it was someone’s house.

Then the door opened and two young girls peaked their heads out. And Natsume started to panic.

“I’m so sorry for intruding. I was just wandering and my feet took me here by themselves. I’m sorry, I’ll just be going-“

“We have a customer!” one of the girls, the one with pink hair, said.

“We have a customer!” the other, with long blue pigtails repeated.

And before Natsume could protest, they took him by the hands and drag him inside.

 _Two kids should not be this strong_ , he thought to himself, even as he continued to apologize. His first instinct was to assume they were some form of youkai, but Nyanko-sensei was still perched on his shoulders. He hadn’t attacked the girls, so they had to be human, right?

“A customer for the Master!”

“For the Master!”

Natsume was struck by their similarities to the Chukyuu. Finally they stopped outside a paper sliding door. They dropped his hands and, each taking a side, pulled the doors open.

Whatever it was Natsume had expected, it wasn’t what he saw.

There was a boy, not much older than Natsume himself, setting two places at a round table. Even from there, Natsume could smell the delicious food. The boy’s back was to him. When he turned around, Natsume was startled by his eyes – one blue, one gold.

“Please have a seat,” the boy said with a gesture to the closest chair.

“I’m sorry, I think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding. I didn’t mean to come here you see.”

“It was no mistake,” the boy said, taking his own seat and a sip of tea. “It is always hitsuzen.”

“Hitsuzen…?”

“Mm.” The boy took another sip of his tea. After a moment, he said, “You have a wish, don’t you?”

A wish…

Not long ago, Natsume’s greatest wish was to stop being able to see youkai. But now he had more youkai friends than human ones and Natsume couldn’t imagine his life without Nyanko-sensei or Misuzu or Hinoe or any of his other friends.

Nor did he wish for foster parents who wouldn’t hate him. The Fujiwara were the best and most wonderful people Natsume had ever met. Even though he was not their blood son, they continued to worry after him and take care of him and make him bentou to take to school.

He even had human friends! It was not something Natsume had ever expected but Tanuma, Taki, Sasada, Nishimura, and Kitamoto were always at his side if he ever needed them. He had even met Natori-san, who could see the same world that Natsume could. It was almost like having an older brother (especially the annoying, won’t-leave-you-alone part).

No, what Natsume wanted more than anything…

“There are people who I want to be able to protect,” he murmured, almost to himself.

“I see,” the boy said. He set his tea down and leaned forward, looking up at Natsume over the rims of his glasses. “And are you prepared to pay the price for that power?”

“Pay?”

“Yes. This is a store after all,” the boy said. “A store that grants wishes.”

“For a price.”

“Yes. The bigger the wish, the more it will cost. I’m afraid that’s just common sense, wouldn’t you agree?”

This boy was setting off all of Natsume’s warning signs. And still, Nyanko-sensei was sitting silent on his shoulders. Natsume longed to ask what his protector thought, but it hadn’t been confirmed yet that this boy could see spirits. Someone else could have put up the barrier after all.

But if the boy could do what he claimed, wasn’t it worth the risk? To not have to worry about his friends and the Fujiwaras? To be able to protect his youkai friends from exorcists like Matoba?

“What would the price be?” Natsume asked.

“What you are seeking will take some time,” the boy said. “You will need to come back every few weeks for lessons.”

“Lessons?”

“No one could afford the price of instantaneous power,” the boy said. “No, you’ll have to work for it.”

“What kind of lessons?”

“A bit of this, a bit of that.”

It was impossible to try and get a straight answer out of the other boy. Like trying to catch mist, he kept dangling Natsume’s answers just out of reach.

“And the price?”

“Now that is the interesting question, isn’t it?” the boy said. He got up and came close, stopping a short distance in front of Natsume. “What do you think you might have that is worth the kind of power you are seeking?”

And just like that, Natsume knew. From Nyanko-sensei’s sudden claws digging into his shoulder, he knew too.

“I can’t give you the Book of Friends,” Natsume said. “I’ve already promised it to someone.”

“There aren’t many names left in there at this point, are there?” the other boy said. “Certainly not enough to pay for your wish.”

“There will be nothing at all by the time I get it,” Nyanko-sensei grumbled.

Natsume hushed him on instinct, but the other boy didn’t seem surprised at all to hear a weird cat speak.

That answered the question about the wards then.

“I propose a trade,” the boy said.

“A trade?”

“Of knowledge. You are more famous than you know, Natsume Takashi. Your name is known throughout the spirit world as one who can be trusted. It is rare that a human is trusted in such a way.”

“Then you’re not…” Natsume couldn’t bring himself to finish.

“I am simply myself,” the boy said. “And what I propose is this – you will share with me the stories of your contacts with the spirit world. And in turn, I will teach you what I know about spirit and the rules that govern them.”

Natsume thought about it. Was there anything that would be dangerous to share?

“Okay,” he said after a moment.

“Well then, let’s hash out a schedule,” the boy said. “My name is Watanuki, by the way.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is marked as complete but I still have some ideas for this universe. The question is whether or not they are full fics or sort of omakes. I'll get to them at some point I assume.
> 
> (Also how do I title?!)


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